MONDAY MARKET CLOSE: Tech gloom casts shadow over Footsie

A testing start to the week for global stocks left London’s FTSE 100 Index trailing 1.1 per cent lower as investors reacted to Friday’s tech-driven sell-off on Wall Street.

Housebuilders and other property-focused shares also came under pressure amid speculation that lenders may be planning to rein in mortgage approvals due to fears of a housing bubble in parts of the country.

The benchmark Footsie closed 72.71 points down at 6,622.84, while Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40 also suffered hefty falls.

It came after New York’s Nasdaq suffered its biggest one-day drop since February as investors dumped tech and biotech shares on Friday.

Brenda Kelly, chief market strategist at IG, said: “The underlying picture remains strong, with economic data pointing broadly in the right direction.

“However, sentiment in equity markets has never really found a firm footing so far this year, and markets have been quick to take any opportunity to sell off.”

In London, tech stocks on the slide included ARM Holdings, down 2 per cent, or 23.5p to 972.5p, while on the FTSE 250 online delivery firm Ocado led the fallers board with a slump of nearly 7 per cent, or 30.2p, to 422p.

Housebuilder Barratt Developments led the top-flight fallers, off 5 per cent, or 20.5p, to 389.4p, after a downgrade from Goldman Sachs following a strong period of outperformance.

Persimmon dipped 54p to 1,292p, while in the FTSE 250 Taylor Wimpey was off 4.4p at 113.6p, with internet property search firm Rightmove down 78p to 2,477p and estate agency group Countrywide off 17p to 636p.

Scottish Gas-owner Centrica was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100, up 6.3p to 334.8p, while SSE was up 7p at 1,482p as investors bought into defensives.